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Lesson 6: Getting Legal doesn't necessarily mean Spending Money

If you have been reading through the lessons before taking the steps described, chances are right now you think it's time to go out and spend a whole lot of money. After reading the title of the lesson though, hope should remain.

Information you Have

In order to understand how you can get legal, let's review the information you already have. From the tracking assessment you have the total number of licenses you own. From the same assessments you also know the total number of clients that need a license. If you entered this information into the DGard Software Compliance Manager, on the main screen you have an easy to follow list of software, with their client and license quantities, and how whether you have to many, to few, or are right on. From the audit data you also have your actual installations of software.

Getting Legal

Now let's get legal. The first thing we want to do is compare our audit data to our licenses needed total. If the audited quantities of our applications do not match our needed totals, we need to investigate the situation and either increase the number of licenses needed, or remove the software from the computers that do not need it. The next step is to double check the license quantities. Remember in lesson 3 when I said you want to keep close track of your licenses? This is where that becomes important. If someone else has ordered software for the company and has licenses, you might re-order at this point under the assumption you are short. That can cost the company a lot of money. Especially where you find shortages of licenses, be sure to double check that they aren't hanging around somewhere else. If you do find more, even if there is excess, be sure to enter them in your software management software. As the company grows you will then know you already own the software and won't need to reorder it.

With the unnecessary software removed, and any missing licenses found, we are now just about ready to purchase our additional software. If using the DGard Software Compliance Manager, run an Out of Compliance report to get a list of the software in need of licensing and how many copies you need. We are now ready to get a quote and order the remaining licenses to get back into compliance. If there is a need for quantities of software, be sure to call your preferred software vendor and tell them about your quantity needs. They might be aware of volume licensing options or upgrade programs that can save you money. Once this is done, be sure to enter the newly purchased licenses into your software license management software. If using DGard Software Compliance Manager, you can now run one more Out of Compliance report and make sure it comes up empty.

Quick List

  • Compare your audit data to your licenses needed lists. Investigate any discrepencies between the two lists.
  • Remove any software found in the audit but not needed.
  • Double check for missing licenses. Finding any licenses misplaced or purchased by another member of the company can save you a lot of money.
  • Enter any final changes in your license management system. If using DGard Software Compliance Manager, run an Out of Compliance report to see the list of licenses you need to order and the quantities.
  • Order the licensing to get back into compliance from your trusted software vendor. If purchasing a lot of licenses, be sure to talk with him/her directly because they might know of licensing options you are unaware of.
  • After entering the software in your license management system, run one more Out of Compliance report to make sure you are up-to-date.